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- One identifies the term “Fritz” as an onomatopoetic word, mimicing the sparking sound of a faulty wire. This is considered to be a more likely origin, as the expression has been around in American English as early as 1905.
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Mar 11, 1994 · Noting that the earliest citation of “on the fritz” in the Oxford English Dictionary is from 1903, word detectives William and Mary Morris guess that it all started with the comic strip The Katzenjammer Kids, which began around that time.
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The idiom “on the fritz” is a common expression in American English that describes something that is not working properly. The origins of this phrase are unclear, but it has been used since at least the early 1900s.
Jul 17, 2023 · One identifies the term “Fritz” as an onomatopoetic word, mimicing the sparking sound of a faulty wire. This is considered to be a more likely origin, as the expression has been around in American English as early as 1905.
Aug 11, 2001 · William and Mary Morris, in the Morris Dictionary of Word and Phrase Origins, suggest that it may nevertheless have come from someone called Fritz — in the comic strip called The Katzenjammer Kids.
May 26, 2021 · When something is on the fritz or on the blink it is out of order or otherwise in unsatisfactory condition. The two phrases are Americanisms and start appearing around the turn of the twentieth century, but otherwise the origins of both are obscure.
on the fritz -A 20th century phrase meaning 'out of order, not working' that can be applied to people, machines, almost anything. Though there was speculation that the fritz in this expression came about as a reference to the nickname for Friedrich, a common German name, during World War I, the…
The phrase on the fritz dates to the beginning of the 20th century--a time, perhaps, when electric appliances were becoming more common (and consequently break down) in American homes. However, nobody knows the exact origin of the term.
